I do want to encourage and foster her interest in VWs and hopefully her ownership of one in the future. As any old car owner knows (and this applies to ANY old car, not just VWs), restoring and maintaining these beauties takes time and care to make sure things are properly fixed so that it remains in top shape. The fact is that these cars are old and things wear out.
Ashleah has come over a few times to help me wash the Bug and clean it up a bit, but she really hasn't had a chance to really "get her hands dirty". Her first chance to do this is going to be this shifter. Thanks to my VW buddy and friend Johnny, I was able to locate a stock shifter that I'm going to use as the basis for a shifter change in the Imp and in the Bug.
At this moment, the Imp has a revered early Gene Berg shifter and the Bug has a Scat DragFast shifter that I bought shortly after taking the job at Unique Supply in '91. My plan is to remove the Scat (I never liked the way it felt) and replace it with the Berg shifter. This would leave the Imp no shifter, right? That's where this shifter comes into the picture.
Ashleah is going to restore this shifter, with my guidance obviously. She is going to disassemble it (not many parts to these), clean, sand, primer/paint it, and then install it in the Imp. My plan is to restore it, with a stock shift knob and boot, but also include a short-shift kit (to make it faster shifting) and an accessory locking shifter base (which allows the car to be key locked into reverse).
At this moment I am tracking down the parts and supplies, and then get Ashleah to come over to get her hands dirty. I think she will enjoy it and she will take a lot of pride when it is finished, especially after it is installed in the Imp.
Stay tuned for updates!!
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